Plot: The spectre of a dead child rapist haunts the children of the parents who murdered him, stalking and killing them in their dreams.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Remake Deserves Better Praise

Story: A Nightmare on Elm Street starts by taking us back to Springwood and puts us into a nightmare of Dean Russell (Lutz) where he meets Freddy Krueger (Haley) before waking up and introducing to all the characters, Nancy (Mara) working in the diner Kris (Cassidy), Quentin (Gallner) and Jesse (Dekker). Continuing the opening sequence we see Dean fall back asleep and it is here where Freddy takes his first victim.

We start to see the side effects of the death of Dean as Kris starts to try and learn about why she was in photos as a young girl with Dean and never remembers being friends with him at that age. The friends all start having the nightmares about Freddy and the friends have to try and find a way to stay alive. The truth about who Freddy is takes a different turn this time around which brings the connection to him a lot closer to home for our characters.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a re-imaging of what can only be put as a classic, people slammed this movie right left and centre. I have gone through all of the Elm Street films in a week and I can safely say this remake deserves higher praise that what it got. The film doesn’t waste too much time explaining about Freddy but instead looks into the idea that the children actually have a connection with Freddy before he is killed. I also liked the idea that the story teases the idea that Freddy could have been innocent. On the negative side of this we lose the serial killer side downgrading Freddy to child molester (which I know is still bad but he doesn’t have the same level of threat). We do end up having a couple of similar deaths which doesn’t seem to fit the idea of the re-creation, we also have re-hashed lines that don’t fit the situation. I also hated the final scene but both films use this to make us question everything we have seen. Overall the story does give us new ideas but it is the ideas of repeating older storylines ruining the idea of a re-imagination. (6/10)

Actor Review

Jackie Earle Haley: Freddy Krueger is the serial killer from our teenager’s dreams he is darker than previous outing but still possess his sinister laugh. We learn what happened to Freddy but what is much more interesting in this outing is we get teased about his potential innocence. Jackie does a good job in the role bringing a new darker style to the icon. (7/10)

Kyle Gallner: Quentin Smith is the fellow student who has a crush on Nancy and as Freddy starts taking his victims he ends up working with her to save themselves before it is too late. Kyle does a solid job in the role but doesn’t really shine to the level required. (5/10)

Rooney Mara: Nancy Holbrook is our leading lady who works with Quentin to try and save herself from Freddy, she digs into the past to learn the terrifying truth about who Freddy really is. Rooney has openly admitted she did this role for the money and you can see in her performance because we all know the potential she has. (5/10)

Katie Cassidy: Kris Fowles is the false lead in the film much like the original had who starts getting visions of Freddy but most importantly starts putting together the connection between her and her friends at a younger age. Katie gives a solid performance continuing her horror trend as a victim. (6/10)

Thomas Dekker: Jesse Braun is the teenager who is left to be responsible for the killing of Kris even though we see he had nothing to do with it. Jesse helps pass on the message about what is happen to Nancy before being killed. Thomas does a solid job but never really gets enough time on screen to make an impact. (6/10)

Support Cast: A Nightmare on Elm Street has a supporting cast that includes the parents that are covering up the secret and for the most part that is all we have as extra cast members.

Director Review: Samuel Bayer – Samuel does a solid job directing bringing a new approach to a much loved film which works in places but not in others. (6/10)

Horror: A Nightmare on Elm Street brings a creepy darker side to the story but struggles to reach any real scare levels. (7/10)

Mystery: A Nightmare on Elm Street adds in a mystery angle about the connection between the children and Freddy. (9/10)

Thriller: A Nightmare on Elm Street keeps you guessing to what the connection is because it goes in a different direction that we have seen previously. (7/10)

Settings: A Nightmare on Elm Street keeps the settings similar to what we would expect to see and have seen before adding to the horror levels. (7/10)
Special Effects: A Nightmare on Elm Street uses good effects to create the nightmare sequences and Freddy make up. (8/10)

Suggestion: A Nightmare on Elm Street is one to try, I know people love the original and will always compare it but as a stand-alone movie this is actually a solid horror film. (Horror Fans Try)

Best Part: Teasing the idea of the innocent Freddy.

Worst Part: Showing us he wasn’t innocent.

Kill Of The Film: Dean because it is the only original one.

Believability: No (0/10)

Chances of Tears: No (0/10)

Chances of Sequel: No

Post Credits Scene: No

Oscar Chances: No

Box Office: $115 Million

Budget: $27 Million

Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes

Tagline: Never Sleep Again.

Trivia: Johnny Depp accompanied his friend Jackie Earle Haley to auditions for A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Instead of Haley being chosen for a role, it was Depp who was spotted by director Wes Craven, who asked him if he would like to read for a part. Depp got a part in that film, Haley didn’t, but Haley would go on to play Freddy in this remake 26 years later.

Overall: A brave re-imagination that brings new ideas to the franchise while still using the older ones, better than people give it credit for but no classic.

Plot: A large Halloween mask-making company has plans to kill millions of American children with something sinister hidden in Halloween masks.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Slow start, but Great Finish

Story: Halloween III Season of the Witch starts with a man running for his life and a group of suited man chasing him down. The man ends up in hospital giving us a chance to meet our leading man Doctor Daniel Challis (Atkins) who treats the man before he finally get killed with the killer committing suicide afterwards.

For some reason we have one scene telling us next to nothing to show each day passing towards Halloween, before Daniel teams up with Ellie (Nelkin) the deceased man’s daughter to look into his obsession with a new line of Halloween masks being released.

Daniel and Ellie’s investigation takes them to the small town with the factory in, it has strict rules and the mysterious toy maker Cochran (O’Herlihy) keeps everything involved with outside people and if anyone bad mouths the copy the usual end up dead. When Daniel and Ellie finally learn the truth the race against time to stop the evil toy makers plan from happening.

Halloween III Season of the Witch is the follow on the to Halloween, without the Halloween major character from the original idea, yes, NO MICHAEL MYERS, but still the film actually works out well by the end. I was hugely disappointed and bored during the first half and very confused about the lack of witch inclusion. In the end it was a twisted version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with a very good twisted idea of trying to take over the world. I was surprised with the end that fully pulled me in even after the slow start.(7/10)

Actor Review

Tom Atkins: Daniel Challis is a doctor whose patient is murdered under his care, he starts to investigate with the man’s daughter only to find himself in the middle of a cult like community manufacturing Halloween masks. Tom does a solid job in the leading role.(6/10)

Stacey Nelkin: Ellie Grimbridge is the daughter of the first victim who wants to know the truth but when she ends up learning the truth she must fight to survive the evil toy maker. Stacey makes for a good partner in investigating.(6/10)

Dan O’Herlihy: Conal Cochranis the evil toy maker planning to use his new Halloween masks to control the children of the world, he is calm and calculated with his plan which has devastating effects. Dan does a good job as the evil toy maker.(7/10)

Support Cast: Halloween III Season of the Witch ha your trademark disposable character for a horror film.

Director Review: Tommy Lee Wallace –Tommy does an interesting job with this film giving us a slow start but great ending. (7/10)

Horror: Halloween III Season of the Witch doesn’t really give us enough horror early on but in the final act we get some true terror.(7/10)

Settings: Halloween III Season of the Witch brings us into a new town where everyone works for the toy company.(7/10)Special Effects: Halloween III Season of the Witch has good special effects used for the kills.(8/10)

Suggestion: Halloween III Season of the Witch is one film that many people criticise but by the end people will enjoy.(Horror Fans Try)

Best Part: Testing.

Worst Part: First half.

Kill Of The Film: Test room

Believability: No(0/10)

Chances of Tears: No(0/10)

Chances of Sequel: The Halloween franchise did continue.

Post Credits Scene: No

Oscar Chances: No

Box Office: $14.4 Million

Budget: $2.5 Million

Runtime: 1 Hour 38 Minutes

Tagline: Witchcraft enters the computer age, and a different terror begins.

Trivia:After Michael Myers died at the end of Halloween II(1981), the plan by John Carpenter was to make a new “Halloween” movie each year, each telling a different Halloween-related story. After this movie underperformed at the box office, the film-makers decided to bring Michael back to life for future sequels.

Overall: A surprisingly good horror film because of the final act of the film.

Plot: A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: A True Classic

Story: The Shining starts with the Jack Torrance (Nicholson) going to the isolated hotel for an interview for the new caretaker during the off season. Jack has a family with wife Wendy (Duvall) and son Danny (Lloyd) who has the ability to see into the future with his finger named Tony. With the family moving into the Overlook Hotel they get the grand tour from Dick Hallorann (Crothers) who has a connection with Danny through mind reading known as The Shining.

The family now alone in the hotel Jack starts to write his novel and as the days go past we start to see a change in Jack as he becomes more hostile toward his family before going over the edge with the help from the ghosts haunting the hotel.

The Shining will always go down as a true classic and what can I really say that hasn’t been said already? The film uses the isolation idea to a new level that rarely gets used anymore, with brilliant shots throughout and with the horror moments being measured perfectly. Nothing more to be said than the perfect horror thriller.(10/10)

Actor Review

Jack Nicholson: Jack Torrance is the writer who takes the job as the caretaker in an isolated hotel with his family for the winter, it seems like the perfect job but when he starts getting haunted by the hotels ghosts he becomes dangerous to his family as he wants to keep these ghosts happy. Jack gives one of his best performances of his career in this film that will always be remembered for Here’s Johnny. (10/10)

Shelley Duvall: Wendy Torrance is the wife of Jack and mother of Danny, she likes the idea of the job which gives the family time to spend away from the busy world, but once she finds out what is happening to Jack she has to fight to save her own and Danny’s lives. While Shelley could be considered to over play this role I think it works great opposite Nicholson’s performance.(8/10)

Danny Lloyd: Danny is the son of the family who has the ability to talk through minds known as the shining as well as having an imaginary friend Tony that warns him of things happening. Danny does a good job in this early role for the young actor.(7/10)

Support Cast: The Shining doesn’t have much a supporting cast with most being the ghosts haunting the hotel and the cook who connections with Danny.

Director Review: Stanley Kubrick – Stanley brings us one film that could easily be his masterpiece and a stand out for horror.(10/10)

Horror: The Shining builds on every side of horror throughout the film, with wonderful suspense and no need for jump scares.(10/10)

Settings: The Shining keeps nearly the whole film in the hotel creating a real sense of isolation from start to finish.(10/10)

Suggestion: The Shining is one that every single horror fan and film fan in general should see at least once.(Must Watch)

Plot: Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees return to terrorize the teenage population. Except this time, they’re out to get each other, too.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Most Entertaining Entry in Both Franchises.

Story: Freddy Vs. Jason starts by filling us in on Freddy Krueger’s (Englund) back story because we haven’t heard it before, wait a minute. Freddy has been forgotten by all the kids of Elm Street and now Freddy has search hell for a way back, his answer is Jason Voorhees (Kirzinger) the machete wielding killer or Camp Crystal Lake. Freddy brings Jason back from the dead forcing him to go to Elm Street to start killing again.

Time to meet our teenage victims Lori (Keena), Kia (Rowland), Gibb (Isabelle), Blake (Kopp) and Trey (Hutch) who are, wait for it home alone on a stormy night with drinks. Lori has been struggling since the disappearance of her first love Will (Ritter) many years before. When the first kill happens in the Elm Street house the name Freddy Krueger starts popping up in conversation, but keeping it quiet from the teenagers.

When Freddy isn’t strong enough he starts appearing in the dreams but can’t kill his victims leaving Jason to build up the scare factor on the teenagers. We meet Will and his friend Mark (Fletcher) who have been institutionalized by the parents of Springwood so they can keep Freddy and his story from coming back. The teenagers of Springwood start suffering the nightmares of Freddy Krueger but Freddy doesn’t realize just who he has released into the world as the two killers start competing for the kills where neither staying awake or sleeping is safe.

Freddy Vs. Jason is the mix of two iconic franchises where we get to see two icons of the horror genre fight, we have seen 10 Friday the 13ths and 7 Nightmare on Elm Streets so it would be fair to say both franchises had started to run dry. This film breathes new life into both of the franchise and even giving us the back story the next generation might not know about. The film is hugely over the top but that works for it because the kills are so entertaining you just don’t know what will happen to the characters. It would be honest to say this is just pure entertainment that will be enjoyed by the fans of both franchises. (8/10)

Actor Review

Robert Englund: Freddy Krueger is our dream killer who the town has forgotten, he recruits Jason to bring back the fear to his town Springwood but his plan goes wrong when Jason just doesn’t stop killing the victims before he can get his hands on them. Robert gets his darkest look to date in the series and gives a great performance. (8/10)

Ken Kirzinger: Jason Voorhees is the silent serial killer who is following his mother’s instruction or so he thinks to go to Elm Street and start killing the teenagers, but we all know he simply can’t be stopped once he starts killing. Ken makes for a very imposing Jason that brings the fear to the character. (8/10)

Monica Keena: Lori Campbell is our leading lady who just so happens to live in the very house where the first Nightmare on Elm Street’s victim Nancy lived. Lori has to team up with her friends and her lost love to try and stop not just Freddy but Jason. Monica does a good job as the leading lady being hunted down by two serial killers. (7/10)

Jason Ritter: Will Rollins is the first love of Lori who gets put in an institute to help cover up the existence of Freddy Krueger but when the killings starts up again he breaks out to try and save Lori. Jason does give a good performance as the caring boyfriend fighting the killers. (7/10)

Support Cast: Freddy Vs. Jason has a large supporting cast that pretty much make up the victim lists and we do have generic teenagers making the list here, over protected best friend, slutty girl, stoner, the virgin and the troubled past. We also see the adult characters used very well to create the cover up against Freddy Krueger.

Director Review: Ronny Yu – Ronny brings his style to the iconic horror film that is filled with blood, gore and a mega body count. (8/10)

Horror: Freddy Vs. Jason brings the old school slasher into the next generation showing how to build a body count but never truly scaring us. (7/10)

Thriller: Freddy Vs. Jason does keep you guessing to how, who and by whom the human character will meet their fate. (9/10)

Settings: Freddy Vs. Jason pays respect to the franchises by taking the action to iconic locations used in previous outings. (10/10)
Special Effects: Freddy Vs. Jason uses great effects for the kills through the film but there are a few questionable uses of effects. (7/10)

Suggestion: Freddy Vs. Jason is one for all the horror fans to watch, it could easily be one of the most enjoyable re-watchable horror films this century. (Horror Fans Watch)

Best Part: Final battle.

Worst Part: Loses any suspense.

Action Scene Of The Film: Final fight.

Kill Of The Film: This is a hard choice so many great kills but I will have to go with Trey.

Believability: No (0/10)

Chances of Tears: No (0/10)

Chances of Sequel: No, but did end up in Graphic novel form against Ash from the Evil Dead too.

Post Credits Scene: No

Oscar Chances: No

Box Office: $115 Million

Budget: $25 Million

Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes

Tagline: Freddy Vs. Jason! Place your bets!

Trivia: Ken Kirzinger had to undergo some dental work during filming, but it would have taken too much time to remove his makeup and costume and reapply them. When he arrived at the dentist’s office still dressed as Jason (without the hockey mask), people were afraid he was an escaped psychopath and almost called the police.

Plot: After the disappearance of a young scientist on a business trip, his son and wife struggle to cope, only to make a bizarre discovery years later – one that may bring him home.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Basic Time Travel Theory Film

Story: Continuum starts by showing our loving family Marika (Anderson), Gabe (Sewell) and son Erol going their separate ways for work just for a couple of days. When Gabe goes missing while on the trip, Marika’s father Sal (Garber) is joined by Marika to investigate what happened to him and only find a mix of his studies along with all his personal belongings.

Erol (Osment) has grown up to reach college age now that never learnt what actually happened to his father. Sal still working on what could have happened has been looking into the potential of time travel and leaves the ideas to Erol to solve the mystery. After Marika continues to struggle with the loss of her husband she eventually commits suicide, this motivates Erol to team up with his grandfather to complete the research and save his family.

We watch how Erol has to make the decision on whether to start his own family or save his parents but Erol just can’t catch a break because tragedy strikes again pulling Erol back to work finding his own way to fix everything in his life.

Continuum is a time travel film that only really looks at the theory and practise of time travel. It looks at the idea of certain paths were predetermined and you can’t just change them. The drawback of this style of storytelling is that very little actually happens during the film, we get technology talk that goes straight over the head. When we finally get to the actual time travel it is also just about trying to change one moment with very little happening. I feel this is a very disappointing film that does have a good concept because most of the ideas would make a time travel film interesting, it is just it could well just be a documentary for the most part about one man trying to build the machine until the time travel happens. (3/10)

Actor Review

Gillian Anderson: Marika grieving mother who has lost her husband and never really recovers, she eventually commits suicide because of the loss. Gillian is only a supporting character and doesn’t get a chance to shine through the film. (4/10)

Haley Joel Osment: Erol is a young man who wants to finish his father’s work so he can travel back in time to correct the tragedies that have hit his life. Haley is trying to rebuild his career and this does show his ability to try another genre but he doesn’t reach the levels you would expect from him. (5/10)

Victor Garber: Sal is Marika’s father who has been trying to find out what happened to Gabe and when he reaches as far as he can he brings in Erol to complete the work. Victor is the strongest performance and that is only a solid one at best. (6/10)

Rufus Sewell: Gabe is Erol’s father who has gone back in time and been murdered leading to the idea that no one really knows what happened to him. Rufus is only in part of the film and does what he can with what he has. (4/10)

Susanna Fournier: Grace is the long term childhood sweetheart of Erol who tries to keep Erol focusing on the real time rather than wasting his own time changing everything that has happened. Susanna struggles to make an impact the way her character needs too. (4/10)

Support Cast: Continuum doesn’t have any more characters to add to the story or even get involved.

Director Review: Richie Mehta – Richie has a good idea but doesn’t pull it off to the level time travel requires. (4/10)

Mystery: Continuum does offer a mystery but seem to tell you what the answer is early on and we are only left with the idea of trying to figure out how they can change the outcome. (5/10)

Sci-Fi: Continuum does give us the time travel idea really well. (8/10)

Settings: Continuum does keep the settings realistic for each time period. (7/10)

Suggestion: Continuum is a time travel film that is an interesting idea but slightly dull, it could be worth a watch but don’t expect anything special. (Try it)

Best Part: The Basic Idea.

Worst Part: The execution of the idea.

Believability: No (0/10)

Chances of Tears: No (0/10)

Chances of Sequel: No

Post Credits Scene: No

Oscar Chances: No

Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes

Tagline: What would you do to change the past?

Overall: Continuum really is a disappointing film that had a lot of potential.

2018 Anticipated Film 2017 was one of my favourite years for movies in years, so through the month of December I am going to look at 31 movies that I am looking forward to in the year of 2018, they … Continue reading →

2018 Anticipated Film 2017 was one of my favourite years for movies in years, so through the month of December I am going to look at 31 movies that I am looking forward to in the year of 2018, they … Continue reading →

2017 Movie Watched List Movie Watched list are always interesting to read to see what order people watch films in, over the past two years I have started doing watched lists with two different styles to talk about the over … Continue reading →